Chapter 58

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Chapter 58: Interrogation Department Prohibits Working at Night!

In the early morning, Lolth woke up as usual, planning to head into town to buy breakfast and assess the quality of the local fare.

But her plans were abruptly interrupted.

As soon as she opened the door of the torture tower, she found Isabella sitting on the steps. The sight startled her.

“What’s wrong?”

Lolth stepped outside and took a closer look. Isabella was slumped on the steps, her face pale, her posture heavy with exhaustion. She looked worn down, as though her soul had endured some unbearable trauma. Her drowsy, listless expression was unsettling.

At first, Lolth barely recognized her.

Upon closer inspection, her curiosity grew.

“Isabella? Why do you look like this?” she asked.

Her concerned tone fell on deaf ears. To Isabella, it sounded like sarcasm laced with disdain.

Isabella’s empty eyes slowly lifted to meet Lolth’s.

“Isn’t this what you wanted to see?” she murmured. Her voice was soft, almost a whisper, devoid of emotion.

Lolth blinked, confused. “Huh? What do you mean by that?”

After a full night’s sleep, Lolth couldn’t comprehend why Isabella looked so disheveled, her expression so desperate. Could it be because she hadn’t cooked for her last night? Was Isabella starving?

That didn’t seem likely.

Yet Isabella offered no further explanation. She simply sat in silence, as though resigned to whatever punishment Lolth might deliver.

Lolth’s gaze drifted to a magic bag lying beside Isabella. She peeked inside and was perplexed to find seeds, seedlings, eggs, and young animals. If Isabella had been truly hungry, stealing eggs or even seeds might have made sense. But why bring seedlings?

At that moment, Tina emerged from behind Lolth. Already dressed in her neatly pressed maid uniform, she stood half a step back, her demeanor poised.

“Good morning, Master Lolth,” Tina said before casting a glance down at Isabella. Her voice turned sharp, tinged with derision. “No need to waste time on her. I reminded her last night.”

She smirked, her tone cutting. “See? You came back after all, didn’t you?”

Isabella remained silent, ignoring Tina’s taunts. She stayed still, her face devoid of any reaction.

Lolth sensed the awkward tension between the two and found it puzzling.

While she hadn’t known that Isabella and Tina had been plotting an escape, she’d noticed they seemed unusually close. It had surprised her at first, given their circumstances, but their cooperation had been convenient. If they were “friends” and caused no trouble, Lolth considered it a benefit.

But today was different.

It was clear they were at odds. Even Tina, who was usually mild-mannered—though easily startled—seemed like a completely different person. Her sharp tone and demeanor left Lolth greatly surprised.

‘Is this what a fight between girls looks like?’ she wondered.

She decided it was necessary to step in. But first, she needed to figure out what had caused the argument.

Lolth began piecing things together with a simple analysis.

“Hmm… the problem must be with that magic bag,” she reasoned aloud, her gaze lingering on the peculiar contents.

The items inside—the seeds, seedlings, eggs, and young animals—were eerily similar to supplies from the laboratory. That was odd. Isabella didn’t have access to the lab.

“In other words, she must have asked Tina to get it for her,” Lolth murmured to herself. “But a noble knight wouldn’t resort to stealing, right?”

She tilted her head, considering the possibilities.

“But what would she need these items for?”

She quickly ruled out hunger; the idea of stealing seedlings to eat seemed ridiculous. Selling them also made no sense. In the quiet, sleepy town, there would have been no one around late at night to buy such goods.

The answer, Lolth concluded, was simple.

“She wants to start a farm,” Lolth declared to herself, feeling confident in her deduction. “Isabella must be planning to grow crops and raise animals at night to prove her value.”

But that brought up another issue. Her plan likely conflicted with Tina, who had been studying agriculture for some time. The clash of ideas must have sparked the argument.

Lolth nodded to herself, feeling satisfied with her reasoning.

Tina understood how difficult it was to cultivate new crops and refused to attempt it without proper guidance. Isabella, on the other hand, was a noblewoman—not particularly hardworking—and believed farming to be simple, requiring little knowledge or training.

This difference in perspective had sparked the conflict between them.

Feeling lost after their argument, Isabella spent the night grappling with what to do, only to end up sitting at the entrance, defeated by Tina’s teasing.

Lolth, having reasoned through the situation, felt confident in her conclusions. Her experience with strategy games had honed her ability to analyze relationships and dynamics—even among girls.

With a decisive nod, she stepped forward, lifted Isabella from the ground, and patted her shoulder.

“It’s okay not to know everything,” Lolth said, her tone calm and reassuring. “It’s your first time, after all. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Just listen to Tina’s advice—she’s experienced.” She paused, considering her words carefully, wanting to sound like a wise elder. “Luckily, you didn’t act recklessly. Who knows what could’ve happened? You could’ve gotten yourself into serious trouble!”

Lolth’s attempt at comfort carried a note of caution. In her mind, she was already calculating the risks: the laboratory’s resources were limited, and if Isabella’s inexperience led to the loss of seeds or young plants, replenishing them would be a major issue.

Isabella heard the words but interpreted them differently.

‘Would something bad have happened if I’d continued last night?’ she asked herself.

Confusion clouded her thoughts until a realization dawned: her soul had been damaged because she’d “disobeyed orders.” If she continued resisting the succubus’s will, she might lose more than her pride—she might lose herself entirely.

That wasn’t a risk Isabella was willing to take.

She replayed Lolth’s earlier words in her mind. The lack of anger or harshness gave her pause. ‘Were they not planning to hold me accountable?’

Tina, standing nearby, was equally surprised by Lolth’s approach.

“Master Lolth, are you not going to punish this person?” she asked, unable to hide her disbelief.

Lolth glanced at Tina, her expression shifting to mild curiosity. ‘This elf lady surprisingly holds grudges,’ she thought.

Still, she kept the thought to herself and offered no outward reaction.

However, Tina’s words sparked a reminder in Lolth.

This behavior wasn’t just against the rules—it was also unnecessarily secretive.

‘Even though the nobles need to learn “no work, no food,” we shouldn’t take it too far,’ she thought. ‘Working overtime late at night to surprise the boss? That’s completely out of place here! The Interrogation Department is practically designed for slacking off.’

Lolth’s expression shifted, and she raised her tone slightly to match the seriousness of her realization.

“Oh, I’ll let it go this time, but… it shouldn’t happen again!”

Hearing this, Isabella, who had been feeling dejected at not receiving any “punishment” to prove herself, suddenly perked up.

“So… will you kill me when the time comes?” she asked, her gaze fixed on Lolth.

The unexpected question startled Lolth.

“How is that possible? I definitely won’t kill you!” she replied, her voice filled with genuine surprise.